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Release day! + snippet

The release date for Entertaining the Sombrevilles has finally come. I’m so excited, and so grateful that it’s happening. This has been my dream since I was in my teens, though to be honest I don’t think I ever imagined being published in English. It’s beyond what I thought was possible then.

To celebrate today, I thought I’d share with you a snippet from the book. This is from a scene where Lucas, the youngest of the Sombrevilles, has escaped from a dinner party together with a handsome stranger:

~~~

While his siblings were leaving the dining hall together with the other guests, Lucas Sombreville sneaked into the garden in the company of Giles Perry, Viscount Atherton. Atherton had made it quite clear, from the first time their eyes met in the hall earlier, that Lucas was his number one priority tonight. The other guests around their table probably saw it as nothing other than an older man’s genuine interest in a boy who seemed destined for a bright future, maybe reminiscing on his own adolescent years and the dreams he once had.

For all Lucas knew, Atherton might have some nostalgic reason for being drawn to him. His main interest, though, was something else entirely and Lucas sighed contentedly when they were finally outside and Atherton pulled him into an embrace.

“I should go back inside,” he said, “I really should. Christ, my wife is in there. And my father-in-law.”

Lucas had been introduced to Lady Atherton earlier: a pointy-nosed, decidedly unpleasant woman. He had not been the least surprised to learn that she counted herself as one of Lady Blackford’s closest friends.

“Please don’t,” he said, tugging at the man’s lapel. “You promised you’d show me the view.”

“Oh, my dear, I’d show you anything.” Atherton cupped Lucas’s face in his hands. His eyes were a light grey, almost the same shade as his hair. “Just let me kiss you and you can have anything you wish for.”

Lucas let him. Atherton’s lips were dry and warm, his breath tinged with wine. They were still on the stairs leading down from the back terrace and the thought of how easily they might be spotted excited Lucas even more. Atherton must have thought of it too, for he ended the kiss and took Lucas by the hand.

“Come with me, it’s too risky… it’s all too risky…” But he kissed Lucas again before they were even off the stairs, pushing him against the wall and running his hands along Lucas’s chest and belly.